Busy but not dead

Not in denial either! Heh heh.

By all accounts, me and Giant and TOFU are struggling with schoolwork, and settling down with varying degrees of success. Though I haven't heard so much from Panzer and Lime I assume they're more or less the same. Though there's been plenty of time to do so, I haven't been finishing any posts for the fort lately - though I frequently have urges. One reason is that I know every post will take ages (perfectionism can suck as a character trait). The other is the oft-used excuse - too busy.

I'm trying to commit myself to four separate sites on a regular basis:
Pebble Fort
Npone
GZF
SGNewWave. My second CCA is devoted to movies and films. They have forums and a main site, which publishes reviews and articles, and I'm hoping that I'll be able to get some recognition through some miracle.


If I could use one word to describe where I am right now, it would be "peaking" (or maybe "melancholic laziness" but that'd be cheating). I missed NS reg, missed this year's 24h playwriting comp, struggling to keep by grades at a B, and generally have a shitload of things to do but can't.

Enough excuses. Over the next few weeks I'll be polishing movie reviews, both new and old, to post on both SGNewWave and PFort. If I can make my load of undone crap smaller you'll see some original articles from me.

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (2006 - current) Review

Everyone's been busy lately. Here's some filler. I debated between putting this on PFort or Npone, but PFort should attract hipper visitors. So.

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I think I try to break out of my comfort zones of viewing material... so in another bid to convince myself, I decided last night to not watch Carrier (which I'm halfway through) and seize some hopefully worthwhile anime.

I gotta admit my list of anime isn't much. The recent ones were Shakugan no Shana and Elfen Lied, which was terribly disappointing and terribly shit respectively. I do my best not to be biased against genres, but the truth is that anime does have specific characteristics that define and guide it, and those characteristics make anime like the Danger Zone to me. You have the fan following, showering abject praise upon their chosen worship, baiting you into the series only to ambush you from behind with a bucket of FAIL and retarded excuses for why the show is so RETARDED and formulaic 90% of the time.

The other thing is just what I've said: formulaic. Since anime and its associated conventions still sell, a lot of animes just copy off their predecessors and use the same techniques, the same cock teases, same boob fanservice, same stock characters, same general plot lines, and sometimes like in Shakugan no Shana, when the creators actually hit something interesting/original/awesomely profound, they go NOWHERE with it and fill it up with all that stock nonsense to reel in the safe, usual, ferociously dedicated enthusiasts.

Pictured: God.

And this is where the anime-bashing ends (for today) because I liked The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Being popular, they raised alarm bells in my head. Also the fact that they broadcast episodes out of chronological order, even separating two-part stories, sounded like a gimmick that would crash and burn. In the end I liked it for being able to keep me off-balance, staying in with the show's tune of "weird stuff happens, lol". And they still manage to give the show some sort of conclusion.

The story's there. It's about a bunch of exceedingly out-of-this-world high school students who are all supernaturally special in their own way, except for the narrator. Many character archetypes are used here though surprisingly things are continually kept interesting by little twists and turns here and there, and praise also goes to the pacing of the unhurried exposition of the SciFi/Fantasy lore(which you don't have to be a fan to jump in and "get"). They weave all these bits of interesting stuff in alongside all these mundane real world events. A commonly quoted example is the fate of the world teetering over the outcome of a baseball match - and yes, they pull it off.

Romance is handled pretty well, which surprised me (fanservice isn't dovetailed into romance, thank god). The action/fight scenes are good too; but most episodes focus on the school-based crazy capers of the group of friends and how they try to get Haruhi to be entertained so she won't destroy the world. It's executed better than it sounds, honest.

Speaking of fanservice, Melancholy definitely has it's bits, but a fair amount of these sequences are either just humourous or interesting enough so for the most part it isn't an issue. I get the feeling they are partially parodying anime and general storytelling conventions, and the nice thing is that they go just far enough with it to amuse, but don't abuse it too much.

Characterization is balanced. The lead is Haruhi, hyperactive, slightly sociopathic, ambitious, and loud. She also shows an underlying despair with being normal, though this and other character traits of not just her but other characters are hinted at subtly enough to keep things interesting. I do however have frustrations for Koizumi and Kyon's mostly one-sided personalities - they stay too passive sometimes and rub off on the viewer with lackluster results. Otherwise, Kyon, as the normal, uninterested guy, is a fitting and entertaining counterpoint to Haruhi's explosive madness.

Animation is beautiful. The art division for Haruhi's world definitely had a vision when they went and drew life into the script. Certain sequences, like Haruhi's monologue about her past, echo with feeling. Plenty of scenery porn too; plenty of very pretty shots of the landscape. The only real downer in this department was the gay CG at times - low-quality and at odds with the anime background.

Overall, this feels more like a genuine work of art and less a cash cow or entertainment cow. A nice arty example is the episode "Someday in the Rain", melancholic slice-of-life. Regardless of wacky subject matter, there are cerebral things to reflect on, and keeps you fairly well entertained to boot (an average of a couple of laughs per episode). It does fall a bit short at some bits, when you wish a line of thought had gone just a bit further, but in the end, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is well balanced, well played, well done. Not particularly deep but worthwhile. yeahhh!!

I come from an older breed of anime. I remember when anime series did not have to be marketable. I remember when anime series could develop characters I could relate to even though I could not change into some black pig when splashed with cold water. I remember when anime could bring up philosophical topics like reality and identity amid the worldwide plague known as the Internet. I remember when anime did not have to be cute and could feature a guy who turned into a gelatinous blob that inadvertently crushed his girlfriend into red goo...

- KValentine

cross the Cross; or x the +

On the morning bus to school, roughly halfway through my journey this lady boarded the bus, dressed in very chic clothing, nice round face, all in all rather attractive. Attractive, that is, till she pulled out a book titled "Leading Kids to Jesus". That's right. Leading Kids to Jesus. Whatever happened to teaching kids about Jesus? Lead them to him, like how you lead a dog for a walk to the park, or how you lead cows and pigs to the slaughterhouse. Pisses me off.
I shall make this very clear, I do not hate Christianity, I have countless friends who are Christians or Catholics, and I did in fact believe in Christ when I was young. What I dislike, almost to the point of hate, is how other Christians go about spreading their faith. Especially them Evangelists, who are totally doing it wrong.
Yesterday, as I was flipping through The New Paper, 2 particular pieces of news came to my attention.
The first, is regarding the practice of members of a church that hang around outside school gates and harass random students for their handphone numbers and repeatedly pester them to attend cell group meetings in their church, as well as handing out bibles for days!
This is not the first time it has happened, but this, I believe, is the first time such a story ever got published. Why do these adults continue to pester students obviously uninterested in their religion. What do they gain? Well, from their religious point of view, they believe they are doing a service by introducing them to Christ, as well as effecting eternal salvation. Bravo. How selfish.
The second, is concerning this this 17 year-old who managed to escape from a shelter home. Whats so strange about that? Well, the conditions he was made to live in was no better than prison, trust me. Read the article and you will sympathize with him too.
But what really got me motivated to write about this is not just because the pastor got angry at the boy's mother for lodging a report to the police, no! Its because, they REQUIRE the people who take stay in the shelter to stay for two bloody years! And in addition to that, they are required to attend Bible studies and pray when they are "interned" in the shelter. Please note that they are actually paying to stay in the shelter. Its like paying to stay in prison, with daily brainwashing sessions made compulsory!
Now, you might say this might simply be isolated incidents. But no, I can assure you, such abuse of the Christian faith has been going on for ages. And just to drive home a point, when I was young, I was put into daycare centres run by Christians, and guess what, we were made to say grace, sing Christian songs, and were even given a damned bible!
So excuse me for having a natural bias against Christianity, but for all the damage it has done, I think some major restructuring has to be done, or at least learn from a nicer and much gentler faith, like Buddhism. Of course, I'm not saying Buddhism is the best, or that it is good, but thats for another post for another time.

I'm an arrogant elitist

Even my lecturer agreed. Out loud. I actually wrote a little reflection (compulsory) and I made it all about how pissed I was with how we were still walking through the basics that every writer should know (like where to get inspiration from and all that). I think I was subconsciously trying to bait her into saying it. I'm not just elitist, I'm also a troll looking for trouble.

Current homework assignments include:
A review on Vertigo
14 high-quality pictures of "Nature & Man-made" for film photography
Having to get a professional or famous interwiewee, a tolerable host, and direct an episode of a talkshow with them in it. In a million-dollar studio.
I also have to write a letter to someone I've severed ties with and say all the things I want to say. I was going to write at first to Mikana, apologize for the voyeurism, explain the desperation. But two weeks ago Geia tried to talk to me again (Mikana hasn't). Doesn't seem to have changed, and I'm afraid I might be partially guilty for that.

One of the lines I rehearsed in my head for the scholarship interview involved a promise to become one of the top students, if not THE student for my course by graduation time.

Eng-gripe

You know, I realized at the end of O Levels last year that all my English I picked up over the last 10+ years are going to have to take a step back. Well, i take that back. Its not that I'm too used to having a lingual supremacy or advantage over my peers. The current issue is that I completely cannot seem to grasp what my classmates are speaking or typing sometimes. ABSOLUTELY UNABLE TO CATCH THEIR MEANING! And before the arrows are returned to me, I can assure you, its not my language skills, sure they are rusty but they are still good, no its the simple fact that they are unable to read and repeat or speak complex words, and when they type, its chock-full of errors and warrants immediate editing from yours truly.
Well, I guess that is what to be expected from being in such a "De-Anglicized" majority demographic.

turning the page

hi guys. pebblefort won't include TOFU for the next few months or so. I gotta move. maybe someday i'll come back.

events that have unfolded around me are causing me to rethink a lot about what is going to happen.

one day i'll return again. cya guys.

Testing

Neat feature..

Sent from my Nokia phone

An interesting dialogue

Well, I just had a very very interesting and enriching dialogue session with Senior Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports & Ministry of Transport (MCYS), Mr Teo Ser Luck. About thirty Student Councillors were called up and tasked with engaging Mr Teo in a dialogue in which we were expected to raise questions, issues and our concerns on the topics under his jurisdiction, mainly sports, family and transport.

However, the dialogue session turned into discussion where Mr Teo provided his personal experiences on sports, his life before being in the parliament, his take on family issues and other anecdotes. A dialogue that started off with sportsmanship within Junior Colleges ended off with Mr Teo having a genuine experience-sharing about how he met his wife and their courtship of ten years. Truly, he is a renaissance man, having completed four Ironman triathlons, having been a very very successful business man and now being an office holder.

But perhaps my greatest take-away from the session was how we have a very capable, honest and very down-to-earth man in a governmental position. Kinda makes me secure, knowing that he's there guiding the youth in Singapore. But what made him open up so much to us? Aren't we just mere students from a neighborhood JC? Doesn't he come from Victoria School and Nanyang Junior College, way better schools than mine? What was it? I wonder.

-

I hate hypocrites and the superficial people who sometimes swarm themselves around me.

its starting to get really obvious and its eating the shit out of me.

yes, i slapped the hell out of you. but i thought to myself first if i was being hypocritical or not. and i realised i was not.

thus, your PMS ended this entire long journey.

unAWARE

wtf. can you believe it...

the aware saga got an article in the economist. The world's leading international newspaper has an article about the aware saga.

why was aware established in the first place. we don't need pushing for women rights in singapore.

aware is just furthur prove women cannot play politics.

disgusting